Bad Hair & Dancing

1.  Frankenstein by Edgar Winter
2.  Brother Louie by The Stories
3.  Hello It's Me by Todd Rundgren
4.  The Joker by The Steve Miller Band
5.  Aubrey by Bread
6.  Higher Ground by Stevie Wonder
7.  My Love by Wings & Paul McCartney
8.  Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers
9.  Smoke On the Water by Deep Purple
10. Reelin' In the Years by Steely Dan
11.  Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin

My teens are probably my least favorite time of my life. Is that true for everyone? I don't know - but for me, it was. There just didn't seem to be anything about myself that I felt was up to par.  I got teased for being short, for being chubby, for being Mormon, for only wearing dresses to school when pants were all the rage - you name it, I just didn't measure up. I tried as hard as I could to blend in to the walls but, somehow, sometimes I was still picked up on someone's radar and awkward  and painful moments would follow.  I didn't possess the talent for glib retorts and ended up saying something in defense that would just send the attacker into fits of laughter.  I wasn't quite Josie Grossie from "Never Been Kissed", but I definitely felt her pain in the movie.   One thing I can say for myself - although I wasn't wearing the latest fashion, at least I was clean and well-groomed!  Yeah - that doesn't quite pack the punch you're hoping for, does it?  But it was the words of solace my mother would send me out the door with.  To be fair, I do have to say that there was more emphasis in those days on personal hygiene as opposed to name brands.  I didn't even know what a "brand" was until well into adulthood.  Jeans were jeans, shirts were shirts.  Styles mattered, but not where you got your style.  But if you stunk, it didn't matter what you were wearing!

I've already mentioned the Pixie haircut - but let me share with you some photos leading up to that time.

7th Grade

8th Grade

 My 7th and 8th grade pictures look very similar. You will notice that I wore practically the same outfit, only changing out the color of shirt under the jumper. This was not planned - just evidence that I didn't have a very extensive wardrobe and was just learning to sew. (The sewing would open up the door to all sorts of wardrobe options in the future!)   Let's look closer, though - particularly the hair.   In the 7th grade portrait you will notice the bangs simply because they are the most horrible mess EVER!  My mom decided that morning that my bangs, which she detested anyway, were too long. So she goes and grabs her shears and starts trimming. But no matter what, they kept coming out uneven. After a few attempts to even them up, time ran out because the bus was coming and out the door I went. When I got to school I ran to the bathroom and saw what an insane mess it was.  Heaven help me!  Had she used the pinking shears?!  What on Earth was I going to do now?  I got them wet and tried to work with them but there was just no use. As I looked in the mirror I swore that that was the LAST time my mom would ever touch my hair - and it was!  I couldn't afford to go to a salon at that time so my only option was to just let it grow out and go without bangs.   And this leads up to what's going on in my 8th grade portrait. Just pull that hair back, wrap a ribbon on it and call it good!   But what was I going to do?   There wasn't a soul I trusted to cut my hair who would do it for free and no funds to go to a salon - so it just grew. I would soon get a job, though, from a lady for whom my mother tended.  She owned a hair salon and I would go in and clean for her - sweep up the hair, clean the restroom, mop, clean combs and brushes.  I didn't make much, at least not enough for a haircut, but I think she took pity on me and would have me come in and she'd do a quick trim on the ends or give me an updo of some sort, just so I could feel pretty.  No bangs, though! I just knew that if I got them, my mom would insist on trimming them and that just wasn't going to happen!

Amongst all this teenage angst there was one place I could go, though, where I felt accepted and not quite as dorky.  In church, at age 12, you advanced to the youth group and were able to participate in their activities.  I had watched my brothers leave on a weeknight to make the drive up to Jamestown, New York, for the MIA activities.  MIA stood for Mutual Improvement Association and it was for ages 12 - 18. You had lessons and activities.   It was a chance for the LDS youth to associate with each other. There were very few LDS people in our area and, often, as in my elementary days, I was the only one. In high school there were a few others, but we were, by and large, a minuscule minority.  It felt good to get together with other youth your age who shared the same beliefs and standards you did, where you could have fun and not worry that someone was going to make fun of you or try to get you to drink or smoke.

Part of the program was a girls camp that was held every year where they tried to teach us different camping and survival skills. The location was different each year, some years more rustic than others. Some years we had to dig our own latrine. One year it was actually held on the lawn of some chapel! But I usually had a good time. We were certified each year and, if we did all the years, we got an award of some sort. I don't know because I only made it to girls camp until I got a job when I was 16 - I didn't complete all the years. But I will always remember the times I got to go and hang out with my friends and the crazy skits we did and pranks we played.

Like I said, our numbers were few and girls always seemed to outnumber the boys in our area. In essence, there was me, Rachie McNutt, Dale Johnson, Mary Mortenson, and later, Cathy Mahon, Lynda Campbell, and LeNae and Geniel Peavey. There were a few more girls from the Jamestown area, but we were the Warren girls. Every now and then they'd try to create a Warren branch, but it didn't really take off until I was about 15 or 16 - and then we met above a dairy building that was just below the high school.

What I looked forward to more than anything as a youth was NOT dating, but being 14 and old enough to attend the dances.  At all the playing jobs we did I always longed to be out on the dance floor, not up there singing and watching everyone else have fun. I don't consider myself a good dancer at all, I just like to move to the music! Still do today! I really, really, really like to dance! So it didn't take much to make me happy.  We'd have dances on a branch level - interesting when Warren finally did become their own branch and the only guy your age was your brother!   But before Warren Branch was formed, there were just enough guys from Jamestown and we had so much fun!

I will never, EVER, forget when the Peaveys moved in to the area. Don and his two sisters, Lenae and Geniel, were the most fun and creative people I had ever known.  Don won my heart at the very first dance we had after they moved in.  It was at the Jamestown chapel in the multi-purpose room.  We had the usual songs that were played, all current, and good dance music. When Edgar Wiinters' "Frankenstein" started playing, Don came running into the room and started doing this leaping sort of dance all around the room. We were mesmerized! It was awesome! We all clapped and egged him on, not wanting it to stop. Thank goodness it's a long song! We all tried to dance like him - we couldn't. To this day, sometimes I'll put on the song and, if I'm sure I'm quite alone, I'll attempt Don's dance.  No can do.  Just one of many talents that you can only possess if you are a Peavey.   I could fill an entire blog entry or two of Peavey memories.  Maybe I will someday.  They are just that awesome.

The other memorable dances occurred at Super Saturdays.  Super Saturdays were part of the Seminary program - a religious education course for the youth of the church.  We usually drove to Erie for them since Erie was the home location for our district.  During the day we would have lessons, games, and activities of different kinds.  At the end of the day we always ended with a dance.  The girls would go to some member's home and get ready - not that they were formal - it's just that after a day of playing hard you wanted to clean up and look good!   On a district level, the number of guys increased drastically! These dances could be a bit like school dances in the sense that you didn't know all the guys there and some awkward moments usually came up.  You know, I didn't get asked to dance much at these dances, either, but I still would rather be here and not being asked to dance than at a school dance not being asked to dance.  Over the years I slowly came to the realization that I was probably just going to be a career woman and I set my sights on those goals.  Guys - I should say, good guys - just weren't all that interested in me.  I guess I can say that nonchalantly today, knowing the outcome of my story, but if I were to be truly honest, it hurt me a great deal at the time.

This playlist includes many of the songs that were usually played at the church dances.   On the branch and district levels, the evening always ended with "Stairway To Heaven." I find this an unusual choice because, it starts out slow and is a great slow dance song, but then it starts rocking out and it always left us wondering, so now how do we dance?  We knew, though, when that famous arpeggio intro started, that if there was someone we'd been wanting to dance with all night and hadn't done it yet,  now was the time to grab him/her because this was our last chance!

A note on the links to these songs - I will sometimes choose a video of lesser listening quality so that you can see other cultural elements of the time.  This, I think, helps you feel the notes of the "era" better.